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Rat Pack Mysteries #7
It Was A Very Bad Year
1963 was a very bad year for Frank Sinatra,. but the Rat Pack are always ready to give a helping hand. - Eddie Gianelli is helping a friend’s wife get out from under a blackmailer when news comes through that JFK has been assassinated. Frank Sinatra was a close friend of JFK and the Rat Pack – including Eddie – rally round to give Frank moral support. Then comes the news that Sinatra’s son, Frank Jr, has been kidnapped. Eddie continues to search for the blackmailer while trying to help Frank get through his second – and intensely more personal – traumatic experience, all of which eventually leads to murder.
181 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2012
3 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Robert J. Randisi
243 books105 followersRobert Joseph Randisi was a prolific American author, editor, and screenwriter, best known for his work in detective and Western fiction. He wrote over 650 books, including The Gunsmith series under the pen name J.R. Roberts, and edited more than 30 anthologies. A co-founder of Mystery Scene magazine, the American Crime Writers League, and Western Fictioneers, he also established The Private Eye Writers of America and created the Shamus Award. Randisi collaborated on novels with Eileen Davidson and Vince Van Patten, and created memorable characters such as Miles Jacoby, Joe Keough, and The Rat Pack. He received multiple lifetime achievement awards and the John Seigenthaler Humanitarian Award.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 12, 2013
I could not get into this book. It was like watching a bad TV movie in book form. I did not finish reading it.
March 2, 2013
When Robert J. Randisi entitled his latest “Rat Pack” mystery It Was A Very Bad Year, he wasn’t kidding. The action takes place in late 1963 with the time period including the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It includes the continuing distancing of the Kennedy clan from Frank Sinatra (not allowing the singer/actor to attend the funeral with Peter Lawford and wife having to deliver the news) and the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr. Yet, even though it seems like It Was A Very Bad Year is going to deal primarily with the kidnapping, there are two interrelated mysteries that have more significance.
This novel seems shorter and more disjointed than earlier efforts. It was very fast commute reading and it held my interest, but it wasn’t full of the cleverly worded phrases and delightful characteristic surprises of the earlier books. It isn’t completely devoid of charm, however. The set-up is much the same as in the earlier works in the series. Former pit boss Eddie Gianelli has something remind him of events in the ‘60s and readers get to shadow him in the flashback where he either solves or serendipitously observes the solution to the mysteries (usually plural in each book and this one is no exception).
In this novel, the Sands has long ago been imploded (as described in the prologue to Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime) to make way for the Venetian and Eddie begins the story with breakfast in the Venetian because it is the closest thing left to his old haunts in the Sands. The famous Jack Entratter who serves as Eddie’s boss (and Meyer Lansky’s handpicked manager of the Sands) had died in 1971 and, as the prologue begins, Eddie is reading the obituary of heavyweight boxer Floyd Patterson. Someone asks if he’s just lost his best friend and Eddie replies, “That’s not something you want to say to someone my age, Mark.” (p. 1)
If the only line you really remember is the one on the first page, you know it’s not up to Randisi’s usual standards. There is, however, one combat narrative that really stands out. I don’t think it’s a spoiler since it doesn’t “solve” any of the mystery for you, but there is a terrific scene where three amateur leg-breakers come after Eddie’s old friend Jerry. Jerry is armed with nothing but a frozen turkey. Now, there’s a fight scene to remember (pp. 112-3).
The story begins with one mystery (blackmailing Joey Bishop’s “wife” on the television series, The Joey Bishop Show) moves through the kidnapping and on to the grand prize. I suppose the meta-plot is plausible, but it simply seems like an ancillary story to the main plot which ends almost an anticlimactically as the real kidnapping. In fact, the whole story seemed less satisfying than the earlier novels. Maybe I should have waited longer in between reading them.
Still, Randisi rarely stints on the cameo appearances and It Was A Very Bad Year is no exception. Eddie G. gets to meet Jimmy Van Heusen (his professional nom de plume named after the shirt maker), the songwriter who penned “All The Way,” “High Hopes,” and “Call Me Irresponsible,” not to mention the famous Sinatra hit, “My Kind of Town.” It’s very much a cameo and offers no detail on the fellow who foiled Sinatra’s 1953 suicide attempt and was considered so much a member of the family that he was buried in the Sinatra family plot. It gave me a kick to see this guy who wrote a song my mom used to sing (“Swinging on a Star”) appear in a mystery. [Of course, Married with Children fans won’t forget “Love and Marriage” while Sinatra fans will well remember “Come Fly with Me.”]
I personally didn’t fly or swing on a star in this mystery, but it won’t stop me from picking up any others by this author. Maybe I’ll try one of his other ones.
This novel seems shorter and more disjointed than earlier efforts. It was very fast commute reading and it held my interest, but it wasn’t full of the cleverly worded phrases and delightful characteristic surprises of the earlier books. It isn’t completely devoid of charm, however. The set-up is much the same as in the earlier works in the series. Former pit boss Eddie Gianelli has something remind him of events in the ‘60s and readers get to shadow him in the flashback where he either solves or serendipitously observes the solution to the mysteries (usually plural in each book and this one is no exception).
In this novel, the Sands has long ago been imploded (as described in the prologue to Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime) to make way for the Venetian and Eddie begins the story with breakfast in the Venetian because it is the closest thing left to his old haunts in the Sands. The famous Jack Entratter who serves as Eddie’s boss (and Meyer Lansky’s handpicked manager of the Sands) had died in 1971 and, as the prologue begins, Eddie is reading the obituary of heavyweight boxer Floyd Patterson. Someone asks if he’s just lost his best friend and Eddie replies, “That’s not something you want to say to someone my age, Mark.” (p. 1)
If the only line you really remember is the one on the first page, you know it’s not up to Randisi’s usual standards. There is, however, one combat narrative that really stands out. I don’t think it’s a spoiler since it doesn’t “solve” any of the mystery for you, but there is a terrific scene where three amateur leg-breakers come after Eddie’s old friend Jerry. Jerry is armed with nothing but a frozen turkey. Now, there’s a fight scene to remember (pp. 112-3).
The story begins with one mystery (blackmailing Joey Bishop’s “wife” on the television series, The Joey Bishop Show) moves through the kidnapping and on to the grand prize. I suppose the meta-plot is plausible, but it simply seems like an ancillary story to the main plot which ends almost an anticlimactically as the real kidnapping. In fact, the whole story seemed less satisfying than the earlier novels. Maybe I should have waited longer in between reading them.
Still, Randisi rarely stints on the cameo appearances and It Was A Very Bad Year is no exception. Eddie G. gets to meet Jimmy Van Heusen (his professional nom de plume named after the shirt maker), the songwriter who penned “All The Way,” “High Hopes,” and “Call Me Irresponsible,” not to mention the famous Sinatra hit, “My Kind of Town.” It’s very much a cameo and offers no detail on the fellow who foiled Sinatra’s 1953 suicide attempt and was considered so much a member of the family that he was buried in the Sinatra family plot. It gave me a kick to see this guy who wrote a song my mom used to sing (“Swinging on a Star”) appear in a mystery. [Of course, Married with Children fans won’t forget “Love and Marriage” while Sinatra fans will well remember “Come Fly with Me.”]
I personally didn’t fly or swing on a star in this mystery, but it won’t stop me from picking up any others by this author. Maybe I’ll try one of his other ones.
July 4, 2020
This is about the year that Sinatra's son was kidnapped. I didn't enjoy this one as the others.
May 29, 2024
Rat Pack Mystery #7. Las Vegas, 1963. Abby Dalton is in trouble and then Frank Sinatra Jr. is kidnapped. Eddie G. gets caught up in more trouble for his friends Frank, Dino, Sammy and etc. Fun series, light and very enjoyable. I liked it, 3 stars.
January 27, 2018
Randisi always does a good job entertaining with his Rat Pack mystery series.
April 23, 2025
That Jerry character…He eats and kills….eats and kills… he cracks me up!
July 9, 2013
I always enjoy the Rat Pack stories and this one was no exception. Eddie is called on by Joey Bishop to help Abby Dalton out with a little blackmail problem. Jerry just happens to be in town with a cousin celebrating the cousin's 21st birthday, so he goes along as muscle. Things are settled pretty quickly and Abby leaves town happy, but a week later a body shows up..and an anonymous tip has pointed the cops at Eddie. The JFK assassination is part of this story as well as the Frank Sinatra, Jr. kidnapping, for which Frank Sr. asks Eddie to be the guy to drop the ransom. Good story! RECOMMEND!
February 17, 2013
Another "Rat Pack" mystery.
These are quick reads, and fun. If you're a fan of Dino, Sammy, Frank, and the 1960's, you will enjoy this series.
This one is set in 1963, and as a the title tells us, it was a rough time for Frank Sinatra. Shortly after JFK is killed in Dallas(And Frank is told to stay away from the funeral) his son Frank JR is kidnapped. Eddie G, a pit boss at The Sands, is called in to help.
The writer Robert J Randisi seems to do his 'homework' for each novel. I look forward to each book in this series. This isn't the best, but I still enjoyed it.
These are quick reads, and fun. If you're a fan of Dino, Sammy, Frank, and the 1960's, you will enjoy this series.
This one is set in 1963, and as a the title tells us, it was a rough time for Frank Sinatra. Shortly after JFK is killed in Dallas(And Frank is told to stay away from the funeral) his son Frank JR is kidnapped. Eddie G, a pit boss at The Sands, is called in to help.
The writer Robert J Randisi seems to do his 'homework' for each novel. I look forward to each book in this series. This isn't the best, but I still enjoyed it.
October 20, 2013
I was going to give this three stars, but I'd have to go back and give the other stories in the series an extra star if I did, so it's two stars for this one. I didn't have any problem putting this one down and it was a much slower read than the others. I do enjoy this series, but I feel like I enjoy the stories more when Frank, Dean, or Sammy play a larger role. To that end, the second half of this book was more interesting to me than the first (although I am always happy to see 'the big Jew from Brooklyn'!).
February 14, 2017
This series is SO GOOD! I love the way the author mixes the fictional Eddie Gianelli with real people and actual historical events from the 1960s.
This time it's the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. in December 1963. There is also a side plot of Abby Dalton being blackmailed for indiscreet photos taken when she was younger (NOT based on fact), which involves Eddie with the brother of one of the kidnappers. Of course Big Jerry Epstein, Eddie's friend from Brooklyn, is also along for the adventure.
This time it's the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. in December 1963. There is also a side plot of Abby Dalton being blackmailed for indiscreet photos taken when she was younger (NOT based on fact), which involves Eddie with the brother of one of the kidnappers. Of course Big Jerry Epstein, Eddie's friend from Brooklyn, is also along for the adventure.
May 26, 2015
Holy cow, this book was terrible! I'm not sure if it's because it's the only book I've read from this series or if it was just ... bad. The plot was disjointed, the characters one dimensional and the dialog dull. The promise of the Rat Pack was most disappointing. The author seemed to have brought them out only to drop names, they never had much interaction with the main character other than to tell him that he was a "great friend." Why was never really explained.
March 12, 2016
Very Good; Continuing characters: Eddie Gianelli and the Rat Pack; Eddie is after a sleazy photographer, who may be involved in more than they realize; in the meantime, JFK is assassinated and Frank Jr. is kidnapped
December 9, 2012
I just LOVE this series! It never disappoints.
May 12, 2013
I love all of these stories.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews